Programming adapter for esp-12

If you want to flash a new firmware a esp8266 model esp-12e you need quite a lot of connections:

Vcc to Pin 3, 8 and 17

GND to Pin 15, 16 and 18

TX to Pin 22, RX to Pin 21

If you do not have a “in circuit” programming possibility, it is quite hard to connect every pin just for programming.

That’s why I looked for something like an adapter to put the esp in just for programming like a eprom programming device, but didn’t find one. So I decided to build my own.

So I take a 1 row female header and stripped the plastic case apart so only the golden spring parts are left.

Placing them onto a breadboard is also not that easy because the esp uses a 2mm raster not the standard 2.54mm. But with a few additional drills everything fits in the end. For soldering it is best to keep a (maybe broken) esp already plugged in so every pin ist automatically in the right position.

So with this little adapter one can plug an esp-12 in, flash new firmware and pull it out again.